SESAC is a for-profit performance-rights organization in the United States.[1] Founded in 1930 as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers,[2] it is the second-oldest performance-rights organization in the United States.[3] SESAC has 30,000 songwriters and more than 1 million compositions in its catalogue.
The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers was founded by Paul Heinecke, a German immigrant, in New York in 1930.[4] SESAC originally strove to support underrepresented European stage authors and composers with their American performance royalties, hence the original name. Heinecke led the firm until his death in 1972.
The company moved into new headquarters in Columbus CircleinMidtown Manhattan and opened an office in Nashville, Tennessee in 1964. Six years later, the company began representing songwriters in addition to its traditional business of representing publishers. With a focus on Christian songwriters, the company was an early player in the Contemporary Christian music format. That evolution led the company to move its headquarters to Nashville in 1985.
In 1993, the company was purchased by Stephen Swid, Freddie Gershon, and Ira Smith. The new owners shifted the company's focus toward more mainstream music, and later television.
In 2013, Rizvi Traverse Management acquired a majority stake in SESAC.[8]
